Gustav Nyquist, a rookie with bright future, and Ty Conklin, a goalie hoping he still has one, gave the Grand Rapids Griffins a relationship they had been looking for all month.

Scoring, meet goaltending.

Nyquist, one of the top rookies in the AHL, had a goal and two assists and Conklin, an NHL veteran in his Griffins’ debut, made 22 saves behind a strong defensive effort in a 4-2 victory against Hamilton before 5,836 at Van Andel Arena.

Conklin, 35, who joined the Griffins on Tuesday after he was waived by the Detroit Red Wings, faced only one shot in the first period, allowed two goals in the second and was perfect in the third.

It was his first game since Feb. 4, when he was pulled after one period in Detroit’s game at Edmonton.

“Personally, I felt okay, a little sloppier than I’d like.” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll be a little sharper after some more game action.”

Conklin appeared to hurt his left knee on a save in the third period, and he favored it slightly when he tried to clear a puck. But he shrugged it off as “just a little knee tweak, nothing big.”

He received a strong defensive effort. Hamilton didn’t get a shot on goal until two minutes were left in the first period. He fended off 14 in the second and nine in the third.

“It would have been nice to get a couple more shots,” he said, “but when you outshoot a team 15-1 and you’re up 2-0 after the first period … that’s the goal of the game, playing in the other team’s end, so it’s a good sign.”

The Griffins goaltenders had allowed at least four goals in five of seven previous games.

Nyquist supplied the offense in the first period. The 22 year old scored in front of the net at the 11:04 mark and then fed a pass that Chris Conner converted in front of the Hamilton with 24 seconds left. Both were on power plays.

Near mid-point in the second period, he assisted on Brendan Smith’s goal.
The three-point night moved Nyquist into third place for most points by a Griffins rookie.

He also has a point in seven consecutive games, tied for the longest team streak this season.

“I’m really happy with Brunno and Andy, and I think we have good chemistry,” Nyquist said of playing with teammate Fabian Brunnstrom and Joakim Andersson. “It’s just fun playing hockey and I’m enjoying my time here.”

The final goal came from Tomas Tatar on an empty net.

The Griffins, 21-21-5-4, expect Conklin to give the team a boost.

“We had a quality goaltender in goal tonight,” said coach Curt Fraser. “Didn’t matter whether we got Joey (MacDonlad) or Ty, either one of these guys stabilizes everything in between the pipes. Now all of a sudden our defense looks better, our forwards look better.”

NOTES
Ty Conklin, who played 11 games with Detroit, earned his first home win of the season. Conklin also played for Hamilton from 2001-06. … The first Griffins went 77 minutes without a penalty after playing error-free last game before Fabian Brunnstrom was whistled for tripping … The second period continues to be a sore spot. In 51 games, the team has allowed 70 goals in the second, 24 more than any other period.
Griffins 4, Bulldogs 2
Hamilton 0 2 0 - 2
Grand Rapids 2 1 1 - 4